Back from Buffalo
By Tom Rock
What an odd game. It just goes to show that the old axiom is correct – the most important stat in football is turnovers. The bills made three of them, the Jets none, and the team that stacked up tremendous offensive numbers wound up losing.
Some random next-day thoughts:
The more I think about the Bobby Hamilton play on J.P. Losman’s naked bootleg, the more impressed I am. The locker room opens in a little while, so I’ll have to ask him if he was disciplined enough to keep his containment and stand his ground on the weak side or if he was just trailing the play and not fast enough to catch up to it, leaving him in solid position to make the tackle. I’m sure it was a little of both.
Kerry Rhodes made a comment that Losman looked like Jim Kelly on Sunday. Wait’ll he gets a load of the guy they face this Sunday. If P.Manning was able to pick his way through the Jags’ secondary, imagine what he can do against the Jets. Gulp! I haven’t checked but the early spread is probably about two TDs. Think the Jets will send Rhodes on blitzes against the Colts? The Colts can only hope.
Cedric Houston was activated for the game, but he probably wouldn’t have played had Kevan Barlow not hurt himself on the final scoring drive. Houston got a pair of carries, including one for a 5-yard TD. I liked the combination of Barlow and Leon Washington – two very different styles. I’m not saying they are going to be super-productive, but I think they are the best combination the Jets can put on the field. They are the two extremes whereas Blaylock and Houston are more middle of the road in terms of quickness and toughness.
The offensive line did fairly well without Pete Kendall at guard. A lot of that is because the Jets used their TEs and RBs to help with the pass protection, and they also seemed to shorten their passing attack to quick drops and reads. We didn’t see the downfield passes Pennington put up in the first two games.
The Jets will, in all likelihood, lose the next two games. But after that, they have three winnable games in a row. It would have been hard to imagine this team heading into the bye with a 5-3 record when the season began. Look at the second half and, after NE and Chicago in the first two games, five of the last six are winnable. Can the Jets be a 10-win team?
Tough week for my picks. I was 4-7-2 with pushes by the Bears and the Jaguars. I have the Falcons giving up 3 ½ at the Superdome tonight. I did grab a second-straight Best Bet with a Redskins pick.
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Comments (8)
Tom-
Maybe the Jets shouldn't bother to show up this week? Maybe they should just take a 2 week vacation? Football is a funny game and NO ONE can predict it. Indy is good but how many Super Bowl rings do they have? Or appearances? Pennington has as many rings as Manning. Not saying Jets will win on Sunday but its not a 100% guarantee that they'll lose. I give them a punchers chance
I think people are under-estimating the potential of Cedric Houston. He’s a very decisive runner and has intangibles that are not exhibited by the other “committee” members, specifically, the ability to spot the hole and burst through it with conviction. I think Mangini needs to use him more and sacrifice the special team aspect. A running back has more touches per game and “on average” has a bigger impact on the overall outcome. Give it to Cedric.
"If P.Manning was able to pick his way through the Jags’ secondary, imagine what he can do against the Jets."
Come on, Tom; watch some tape. Manning was terrible against Jacksonville despite playing in the comfort of his fake little dome. He completed less than 50 percent of his passes and generally struggled.
If Parcells is The Tuna... then Mangini should be The Snapper. The Jets are scrappy and full of attitude. Im sure that comes from their coach.
If they could only wake up a little earlier in the game.
The Colts are the perpetual media darling also-rans.
Manning is defensible, and can be rattled... will we do it???
I don't think it'll be the blowout, all the experts think.
Also, on Houston, he is the hardest runner we have, and has a few moves, too. At some point, Schottgini will have to give him a fair chance, if they want to improve the running game.
The unpredictibility come from human emotion. If the Colts come out flat, taking the Jets lightly after a tough div game, and the Jets come out strong for 4 qtrs (something they have yet to do), then this game could be a lot closer then the "experts" are prediciting
Tom, is there a reasonable possibility that Curtis Martin comes off the PUP list and starts fot the Jets in week 7, or is this layoff just a precursor to a retirement announcement?
Why are Jets fans not upset over the potential move of the entire daily perations to New Jersey.
Whats up with that?